When I first saw the lineup for Porchlight Music Theatre‘s 2016 season, I thought: Wow! This might be our chance.
For all these reasons, I was ecstatic to see Miranda’s story—our story—of gentrification, racism, and hope, told from our perspective on a Chicago musical theater stage. “American musicals, Chicago style,” as Porchlight’s motto goes, seemed like the opportunity so many of us had been waiting for.
Speaking to American Theatre Magazine on the issue, Hudes made a similar argument: “Casting the roles appropriately is of fundamental importance,” she wrote. “When faced with these expensive obstacles, an organization’s status quo sometimes wins because it’s cheaper and less trouble. . . , The Latino community has the right to be disappointed and depressed that an opportunity like this was lost.”
Don’t keep us out of the stories we have written about our own communities, about our own histories, in our own voices. It’s not yours to tell. Don’t erase us from our own culture. It doesn’t belong to you.
